-
The Sinhalese, Sri Lanka's "indigenous" ethnic group, migrate to Sri Lanka. Among other clans, the Sinhalese were the largest to migrate. They are the largest ethnic group in Sri Lanka today. Out of the 21,000,000 Sri Lankan people, around 14,000,000 are Sinhalese.
-
Therevada Buddhism is the primary religion known to Sri Lanka. Therevada is based on four noble truths, which relate to suffering's origin, nature, cesseation, and path to cessation. These four truths were first realized by Buddha during his enlightenment.
-
The Chola Dynasty conquered the Maldives, India, Sri Lanka, and the kingdoms of Malay Archipelago. They were shortly taken over by the Tamils in 1055. The Tamils ruled for thity seven years afterward.
-
In 1505 Portuguese came to Sri Lanka and settled in Sri Lanka's Colombo. The Portuguese ruled Sri Lanka until 1658, when they were pushed out by the Dutch. The Dutch ruled all of Sri Lanka accept for the city of Kandy, which is in the center of the island.
-
After conquering the city of Kandy in 1815 and bringing in Tamil people as laborers, Sri Lanka becomes under British rule in 1833. With its rule came a different governemnt, changing Sri Lanka's Kandylan administration. In 1931, the British grant the right to vote in Sri Lanka
-
On April 5, 1942, Colombo was hit by an air raid carried out by Japan. Sri Lanka (then Ceylon) was attacked because British troops were stationed there. Terrorized, the residents of Colombo and other cities in Sri Lanka fled from their homes and got on boats to India.
-
Starting as a riot in July 1983, a civil war developed in Sri Lanka between its two largest ethnic groups: the Sinhalese and the Tamils. The war has now come to a battle between the "Tamil Tigers," the Tamil rebel group leading the attacks, and the Sri Lankan army. Although the soldiers have pushed the Tamils into smaller areas, making the war smaller, people are still being held prisoner, thousands are dead, and even more are wounded.
-
On December 26, 2004, tragedy hits Sri Lanka in a form of a massive Tsunami. The cause of the 500 mph tsunamis was a 9.0 earthquake. It had been the most powerful earthquake in forty years, killing over 6,000 people in Sri Lanka alone.The tsunami thrashed through cities and towns, taking thousnads with it, then stopped after ten minutes, as if it was never there. The proof it happened? How about miles of wreckage, marooned citizens, and corpses around every corner.
